TCL Architecture of Objects (TAO)

1. TCL Architecture of Objects(TAO)

2. Generic Presentation • Heresy • Half baked implementation • Call for action • Questions

3. The Heresy

4. “Tree Structures”

5. Classical trees are half the picture

6. Where did we get the idea? • Tree structures are good for simplifying problems • From a human perspective, root systems don’t exist • Folks who developed these systems were fascinated by dead things

7. Trees are useful for organizing dead things

8. Trees useful for organizing dead people

9. The Board Dept K Trees are useful for organizing … organizations Obsolete Senior Veep of W

10. Look into the face of your Enemy

11. HTML Object TK Object Script Object Chaos Operational Functional

12. Ambiguity A B C D

13. Change

14. Thank You!!!

15. The Problem • Most of human understanding is wrapped around things that sit still • Only dead or inanimate things sit still • Humans, database records, screen elements, and documents are not dead nor inanimate • Why should the objects that represent them in your system be treated as such?

16. The Half-Baked Implementation

17. TAO • The TCL Architecture of Objects • It’s not an Object System • It just plays one on TV • It’s not an Architecture • It’s about dealing with a lack of one • It is written in TCL

18. Gee Whiz Features • Uses an sqlite backend • Unused Class Structures are cheap to keep around • No class structure is implied or assumed Any resemblence to an existing system, whether living or deceased, is strictly a coincidence… …and a crying shame

19. Heresies/Features • Uses Incremental TCL-like notation • Does not honor data or method hiding • Allows for some pretty/wonky code creating code systems • Makes it very easy for a class to be defined/defiled in multiple places in multiple ways • Stresses the use of mini-languages for large scale development.

20. Why on Earth?!? • TAO evolved to solve certain problems with a family of general purpose web database applications • With no dedicated allocation of time and/or resources • Using high-school kids as developers • Oh, and they are systems vital to building operations

21. (Two minute hate)

22. How does it work? • “Code” is text passed into a wrapper • The wrapper breaks apart the code, and stuffs the constituent bits into a database • A class is generated on demand from a database search

23. Defining a Class Pre processor Code sqlite

24. …continued sqlite Class F Class E Class D Class C Class B Class A

25. Class F Class E Class D Class C Class B Class A …continued sqlite

26. Class F Class E Class D Class C Class B Class A …continued TCL Implementation of Class F

27. Objects • Non-volitile data is stored in a set of global arrays • A stack tracks what object is currently employing what method • Each method has a pre-amble that links the global array data into a local variable

28. Current Application • Linux Shell Scripts • Web-Based Databases • Intranet Content Engine

29. HTML Object TK Object Script Object TFINET Operational Functional

30. The Call to Action

31. STEAL THIS IDEA

32. Steal This Idea • It works • It’s fast • It’s easy on resources • You can write your own pre-parser to suit your particular taste • It will be adapted to use whatever native Object system goes into the Core

33. (Two minute hate)

34. Questions

35. Where to Get it http://www.etoyoc.com/